Pre-E3 2008: SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 Hands-on

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We go hands-on with the hard hitting superstars of the WWE.

By Bozon

At last year's Wrestlemania event in Orlando Florida, THQ lifted the curtain on the next chapter of its WWE gaming franchise SmackDown vs. Raw. For more system, SVR doesn't change a whole lot from year-to-year -- it's similar to the Madden development cycles, where new features or technical tweaks change, while the core designs stays the same -- but DS was a whole other story. Last year's pocket offering from THQ and WWE was an interesting concept, but it wasn't exactly what players expected, housing a touch-only design that took direct movement and match flow away from the player, instead offering a closer view of the action and all-touch combat. That isn't the case this year though, as THQ has taken what it learned from the previous year's development, and combined it with the full free-roaming in-ring experience fans really expect from SmackDown vs. Raw.

This year's SmackDown vs. Raw for DS is all about taking the touch elements from last year, and really expanding into a full, true WWE game. Developer Tose is hitting this one full force this year, expanding on control, options, and the game's story mode, cramming more into this portable WWE title than any wrestling game we've seen on a Nintendo handheld in years. You'll now have complete control of your superstar in-ring, can still use the tap and circle controls to attack and grapple, but now have much more to look forward to overall.

Veee One-aaaaah

We hesitate to draw the comparison of SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 to the N64 "No Mercy" style games, but that's really the closest offering to what you'll get on DS. Aside from the touch control -- which we could really stand to swap out for traditional controls, if offered -- game has the same basic flow and design. There's a variety of matches you can check out, including last man standing, ladder, steel cage, table, TLC, and hardcore, and the sheer list of options this year is much, much higher than 2008. This year offers a complete tutorial for newcomers too, so after a few minutes of training against a generic SmackDown "green man" fighter, we were ready to go.

General movement around the ring is easy to do, handled by the d-pad, while dashing is handled with a quick double-tap in any direction. Tapping the screen will attack, and depending on the direction you hold while doing it, you'll deliver different punches and kicks. Weak attacks are done with one circle motion on the screen, followed by a tap in any direction to execute specific moves, and double-circles deliver a heavy grapple, again followed by a specific direction. Once building up your stamina meter, you'll have access to your finishing attack, which can be done by pressing L after executing a strong grapple. It's a pretty simple design, and the balance used to pull off attacks, light, and heavy grapples is very reminiscent of Fire Pro's design.

There are other small DS-specific additions thrown in as well, including an interesting submission system, and pin-break control. When in a hold, the offensive player will need to grab an on-screen character icon (based on the area-specific damage icons on the top screen) and slide it around to evade the defender. When in a hold, it's the opposite, as you'll need to tap a specific part of the icon to break free, so if it's a leg-based submission, you need to tap the icon's legs. If it's a headlock, you'll need to hit the head. When pinning, the aggressor won't need to do anything to hold, but the person being pinned will have an easier time breaking free if they can tap the "1, 2, 3" icons as they show up. It's simple, and it sounds a bit gimmicky on paper, but it does add a fun little element to the game other than button mashing, button mashing, and more button mashing.

619!

We had a chance to try multiplayer (multi-card), which worked great, but we also got a brief look at the story mode this year. Set up like a traditional role-playing game (Tose is known for its work on Rocket Slime, which was an action/RPG hybrid) you'll be able to interact with other WWE members, walk around the backstage and offices of the SmackDown, ECW, and Raw brands, and gain access to new challenges which are met in the ring. Between matches you can also work out to improve stats -- though we didn't have a chance to try that out -- with each training session and in-ring victory giving you more experience, which can be used to up different stats for your character. We'll need to play more to get the full feel of the story mode, but it's already very promising, combining some great RPG elements into the world of SmackDown vs. Raw.

Already SVR is looking better this year than it did last, now embracing traditional play over the obscure, "touch only" feel of last year, but we'd still like to see a few things change as the game progresses. The general gameplay is pretty strong, and the audio/visual design is looking very nice -- people have been commenting on the game's look since the first screens hit months ago, and we don't blame them, as it's looking very, very nice -- but a traditional control scheme is needed for two reasons. For starters, not all gamers are going to dig the touch design on basic principle, but more importantly is the comfort issue, as you'll need to hold the DS with your left hand, use the d-pad and L button, and also have your right hand free for touch control. Besides, this is a pretty looking DS game -- some of the best 3D we've seen on DS - so why cover it up with the player's fat hands getting in the way of the action? Aside from that, SmackDown vs. Raw for DS seriously as our attention, as it looks to be one of the best portable wrestling games in years, and a serious upgrade from 2008. Keep this one on your radar; it's looking hot.